Duke lost to VT?

Didn't see the game, or even know it was on. Just saw the score. Looks like Duke is gonna suck this year.

 

Bwah. ha. I watched it. Paulus was VT's best player.

 

Dukes free throw shooting was abysmal. I think they shot in the 50% range. That alone will lose you a few games

 

[redsnapper]Some white azz craka got semi vince carterized by a jokim noah lookalike too, big ups to vt, peace homies! [/redsnapper]

 

Paulus looked like he was trying to throw the game in the first half. I don't think he was, but damn he was horrible. And dook has no backup PG, Paulus spent the whole game getting benched, including the first half of OT.

DeMarcus hit a huge shot to tie it at the end of regulation, he had a great game today. McRoberts also showed some good hands on the box, but as PP alluded to, he missed tons of FTs, strange of him. McClure had some tough boards. All in all, they looked about as bad as I thought they would if Paulus struggled.

And in fairness, we should have lost last year at home. VT and FSU have both given us trouble in recent years. Still, it's a long season and we've got a lot of young contributers who are going to play hard. We may not go far in the dance, but this team will be pretty fun to watch. Certainly more fun than watching JJ play by himself.

 

I liked JJ and I'm a Carolian Fan. Right about the game last year, the shot by Dockery to win was a thud for the Hokies.

:newsmile48:

 

Don't get me wrong, I loved JJ. I just hated how we wore him down season after season. This team doesn't have "one guy" so they are going to have to be a little more creative on offense. They seem to be much better on defense, if they could start knocking down FT's that would help. Oh yeah, and having a PG who doesn't act like an ass. That last possession though was on McRoberts, to be fair.

 

Dj, would you agree that Duke is lacking a true "leader" in the sense of JJ or Shelden from last year? I think JJ was more that front guy (forget about his numbers, I am talking about a leader)....

 

Definitely lacking a leader, on the court and off. Maybe Nelson can develop into that, he's having a good year. But yeah, you can't replace a Reddick or Williams really, that guy isn't on our roster. For this team to be successful, it's going to have to win close games, rebound better, and cut down on the turnovers. Without the dynamic gamechanging scorer that we've been relying on for four years, baskets will come at a slower pace.

However, McRoberts showed me some good strong inside plays today. If he can keep that up, that will open up other opportunities. But like I said above, if Paulus continues to suck ass, nothing else really matters. We don't have another PG, and you can't win in college without a PG, leader or no.

 

I agree. Thing is, Duke has always had a "face of the program" player...Laettner, Hill, hell Wojo for a time....I don't see that kid in a uniform right now.